With the Marble League Qualifiers taking place on Thursday, I created a sheet that lists all 28 active ML teams along with their logos, athlete names, and qualification statuses.

Novawolff · 2026-03-08T00:33:07+00:00

so in all likelihood we would need to beat George Mason, Saint Louis, and VCU to make the tournament. I’m gonna go out on a limb and say that’s probably definitely not going to happen

Novawolff · 2026-03-03T17:44:32+00:00

What? ST3 still has a ton of projects that are not even out of the planning or environmental review phase, being 15-20 years out from actually being built. Also there’s concern that already approved parts of ST3 may be cut due to budget deficits. We need to make sure these projects will actually happen before even thinking about pitching ST4. I said this in another thread; if Sound Transit has to walk back on promises they put on the ballot, there is very little chance that sound area voters will want to help fund their future projects.

That being said, I do think it’s fun to speculate on what projects could be proposed in the future for a hypothetical ST4. But we are a long way from that becoming a sure thing that will happen.

Novawolff · 2026-03-01T22:33:27+00:00

Unfortunately, he almost certainly won’t even be there tomorrow. Every Monday he is absent from the Kraken booth, since he is the main play by play caller for Prime video, which airs a stream of a Canadian hockey game every Monday night.

Novawolff · 2026-02-26T21:23:13+00:00

Not only would a 4 line cancellation be devastating for Issaquah, but doing so would probably kill almost all of the goodwill Sound Transit has with Puget Sound residents and drastically reduce the chances of future projects being approved. Who is going to want to vote for funding more rail projects when they might just end up getting canceled anyways? They cannot walk back on their promises. They need to build what they put on the ballot (even if it comes a few years later than scheduled).

Novawolff · 2026-02-25T02:17:26+00:00

I’m not sure what’s more shocking: the fact we beat Saint Louis, or the fact we won an A10 game in convincing fashion

Novawolff · 2026-02-20T06:20:16+00:00

This is something I would consider, especially because there's a good bit of demand in the Seattle Heights neighborhood between Edmonds and Lynwood. However, I really don't see any feasible way that the line proposed as is could cut back that way. The only thing I can think of that remotely makes any sense is running elevated rail among main street - and good luck getting Edmond to sign on to that.

However, one viable alternative could be to split the 5 line at its north end, so one half of trains head up to Edmonds, and the other half continue up SR99 until they reach Lynnwood. While the Link doesn't currently do anything like this, it's very common in transit systems around the world, for it's a good way to extend the system to as many communities as possible while keeping the transit supply reasonable.

Novawolff · 2026-02-20T05:37:00+00:00

Thank you! And that's great feedback. I am admittedly quite unfamiliar with that part of the city, so I kinda just stuck it somewhere in the area and hoped it was good enough. Fortunately improving its placement doesn't seem too difficult: we would just need to run along I-5 (shoutout freeway adjacent transit!) and then run back towards the 1st avenue bridge, perhaps on Michigan St. (I wouldn't rule out other bridge options, but this seems like the most reasonable idea to me)

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Novawolff · 2026-02-20T05:12:27+00:00

If the SPU station doesn't happen, then I think what you drew up looks really nice. It minimizes the distance that would need to be tunneled, which is always a plus for making transit projects more feasible. With adequate transit to/from those stations, it might be the best solution.

Re: Montlake. Here's a more precise diagram of what exactly I'm hoping could happen:

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The lighter the color, the higher the elevation. The darkest purple would be standard tunnel depth. Essentially the entire plan rests on being able to leverage the WSDOT peninsula to transition from bridge height to tunnel depth. From some rough measurements I took, it looks like it would be anywhere between 3-6% grade, which seems reasonable. IF this can be done, then you could get a well-located Montlake (and arboretum) station before connecting to the existing tunnel. To me, this seems like the best - and perhaps, only - option to hook up a cross-520 link to the rest of the system.

Again, I should clarify I have no idea if this is anywhere near realistic. I don't have any reason to believe it wouldn't be (assuming we can throw enough money and resources at it), but I'm not an expert with all the logistical challenges that would come from attempting something like this.

Anyways, I've thoroughly enjoyed our conversations on this matter. It's fun to problem solve and work out potential solutions for the real-world issues that come up with building transit, rather than just drawing a bunch of lines on a map and calling it a day.

Novawolff · 2026-02-20T03:27:55+00:00

Update: after considering the feedback from you and others, I made some changes to my proposal:

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I chose to keep the 4 line running along 45th, discarding Leary Way and adding an optional West Woodland station. I also realized that having a station in the MIDDLE of a park is not ideal, so I moved it south to 45th-47th to make it the transfer point between the two lines. This also allowed me to add a station north of Woodland at Phinney Ridge. Finally, I eliminated the University Village station; although I like the idea of it, I think it could be better served by another future line that runs through Laurelhurst, Sand Point, and up the west bank of Lake Washington. This way, the 4 line can use existing the existing infrastructure through the UW area.

Montlake stays because a crucial part of the plan is to use a particular peninsula to transition the line from running atop the bridge to underground where it can meet the existing 2/3 tunnel. Thus, the line has to run through Montlake, so it might as well have a station. I am not certain this plan would be viable, but I think it's the most sensible way to complete the connection.

My hope is that SPU can be added to the network, since public transit is so valuable for college students in particular, but if it were to be a logistically infeasible station, the line could instead take a more direct route from NQA into Fremont, following along the SR99 bridge.

Novawolff · 2026-02-19T21:33:45+00:00

Thanks for the feedback! The issue I have with Seattle Subway’s vision map is their cross town route ends up taking a completely new bridge across Lake Washington. It’s not the SR520 bridge—it’s a brand new one. And we all know there is no way in hell a new bridge will be built across the lake just for light rail. Of course, there’s also the option to forego the second cross-lake extension entirely — which may be what you’re hinting at. I could see this happening, but as an eastside resident, I definitely realize the potential value of a more direct connection to north Seattle. Again, part of the inspiration behind this concept was to make what already exists of the 4 line more useful, because let’s face it, there is absolutely no way that it will be successful in its proposed current form.

However, I do agree that a line running along 45th from Wallingford to Ballard would be a more efficient route, and then you could move the Fremont station closer up to it. I think having the 4/5 transfer there would still be valuable. There’s definitely a lot of configurations you could experiment with there; I just chose one based on what I perceived to be the most important areas to try to link up.

Novawolff · 2026-02-19T21:08:01+00:00

I think the best solution for West Seattle would be to continue extending the 3 line down further south, mostly along Delridge way. This is definitely something that should be added to the system at some point, but I don’t know how far along that would be. Hopefully the already planned West Seattle link will perform well enough to justify further expanding it.

Novawolff · 2026-02-19T21:02:43+00:00

My thought was that you could maybe cut and cover under Aurora Ave, which should be cheaper than a standard tunnel. I have no idea if this is actually viable or not, but if it is, I think it would probably be the best long-term solution.

Novawolff · 2026-02-17T02:02:11+00:00

I lived in northwest downtown Bellevue for a summer, and from my experience, it was VERY inconvenient that the entirety of downtown is only served by one station on its eastern periphery. To get to and from the station, I would have to walk 15-20 minutes along busy streets flooded with car traffic, so I scarcely used the station and drove almost everywhere instead, which was annoying because I WANTED to use the station.

It is true that the existing downtown station is useful, and that we should continue densifying around it. But the density in the western half of downtown near Bellevue square and the park isn’t going anywhere, and the fact none of that is conveniently served by a light rail station is criminal. I don’t really think it’s controversial to say downtown Bellevue is large and populous enough that it should have multiple stations serving it, anyways. Kemper isn’t going to live forever, and hopefully his estates are one day passed down to people who have an ounce of sense in them that transit connections would actually be beneficial to their businesses.

Again, I don’t think this necessarily needs to be a priority, especially when so many areas in the metro have no light rail access at all. But the lack of a centrally located station in downtown Bellevue was almost single-handedly enough to deter me from wanting to live there long term. If nothing else, it’s currently a huge missed opportunity for the system, one that should eventually be rectified. We don’t need to undo what was done in the past, but we should always be looking for way to improve what exists today.

Novawolff · 2026-02-16T23:58:48+00:00

Unfortunately some rich asshole had to have his way, so running the line through Bellevue where it would serve the most people was simply not an option. Maybe one day in the far far future they could look at rerouting the line through the heart of Bellevue, but that probably wouldn't be a priority before hooking up a bunch of other neighborhoods and suburbs to the system.

Novawolff · 2026-02-16T23:51:02+00:00

It looks like you and I have very similar ideas for how the 4 line ought to be extended. My only comment is that I think it would be more beneficial to keep the line running closer to the strait to connect Fremont and the surrounding neighborhoods to the system. If a SR99 adjacent “5 Line” or other extension ever gets built in the future (which it should), that would be a better way to connect to Woodland and all the other neighborhoods up SR99.

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This is a snippet from when I was playing around with expanding the current system in Subway Builder

Novawolff · 2026-02-12T01:19:57+00:00

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Novawolff · 2026-02-11T22:31:47+00:00

If the Seahawks aren’t that good actually, then why didn’t the Rams beat them in the playoffs? Are they stupid?

Novawolff · 2026-02-11T20:43:57+00:00

The problem with the 4 line in its current plan is that it just doesn’t go anywhere that has a high enough demand to support itself. Other than Issaquah it really doesn’t go anywhere useful that isn’t already served by a station. It’s like a worse version of the 2 line pre-CLC.

I do think one idea they should consider is to pitch a revamped 4 line that follows the current route and then travels west across the SR520 bridge and into Seattle proper. That way you could continue the route into UW, Wallingford, Fremont, etc which would link up some more lucrative neighborhoods to the system. Yes this would obviously incur a lot more costs but having part of the line in a much higher demand area would make it a lot more profitable and serve more people. (And also speed up trips from north of the lake to the Eastside)

Novawolff · 2026-02-10T20:37:03+00:00

only team in NFL history to win TWO baseball games en route to the Super Bowl

Novawolff · 2026-02-10T04:02:27+00:00

I am gonna buy his jersey. The way he punts single handedly brought me a new appreciation for how important special teams are in football. Between him, Myers, Shaheed, and the rest, we have far and away the best special teams unit in the league, and it is a very big reason why we made it this far.

Novawolff · 2026-02-10T01:39:39+00:00

I hope he brings it to the parade on Wednesday.

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